1972 Chevrolet Impala: Ballin’ Is A Hobby

People seem to turn to a hobby or passion during time of leisure, but most would agree there’s still never enough downtime. There’s something about a hobby that feeds individuals and keeps them continuously working or practicing a skill even when they barely have any time to devote to it. After months, years or decades of participating in a hobby, we can learn substantial skills that lead to substantial results. This 1972 Kandy purple Impala is the direct result of putting in bits of time here and there over the course of almost a decade.

Seven years ago, Buck from Pompano Beach, Florida, drove to a shop nearby to get some upgrades on his Cadillac and heard someone talking about selling a Donk. “I had a Cadillac back then,” Buck explains. “I was getting a piece chromed for it, so I was really just there picking up a piece.” While there, he overheard a shop employee talking about giving up his ’72 Impala for $700, and although Buck wasn’t actively looking for a car to buy, an offer this cheap was too good to pass up. “I wasn’t looking for a Donk; he just said it, and I had the money at the time, so I said, ‘Let me get it,’” he recalls. “I asked him where it’s at and I bought it.” Buck loves Donks, and knew how much he’d enjoy working on one in his free time—without really stressing about what it would look like as a finished product.

He initially let it sit beside his house for four months, looking like the junk car that it was, knowing it was there for him to upgrade at his leisure. Then he slowly started upgrading it, small piece by small piece, only when he had a little extra time here and there. He started by getting the bumpers smoothed out and chromed, which might be a random place to start, but who can really be the judge of that? This was all for fun. With the bumpers chromed, Buck put the car in storage so it wouldn’t be harmed by the weather. He eventually found the time and money to get it painted Kandy purple and, soon after, upgraded the original interior to all purple leather and tweed. As months went by, Buck would make small additions, little by little. More time went by, and he got the engine replaced with a 400 small block. Over the years, he would continue his hobby of upgrading his $700 Donk from time to time. Today it’s a clean Donk that pops at the same time.

Buck’s hobby isn’t over. If any new parts come out or he thinks of anything to upgrade, he’s ready to do it. And once this car is just about saturated with mods, Buck plans to pick up a ’72 convertible Imp that’ll fulfill his hobby of breathing life back into junkyard cars.